‘World War Z’ Director to Helm Live-Action ‘Winnie the Pooh’ for Disney

Yet another live-action project is gearing up for production at Disney, as their new Winnie the Pooh movie has taken a sizable step closer to the big screen. In a move that can certainly be described as nothing less than A Choice, the studio has hired World War Z and Quantum of Solace director Marc Forster to helm Christopher Robin’s live-action return to the Hundred Acre Woods.

Per Variety, Forster has signed on to direct the live-action Pooh movie, and though he’s definitely an unexpected choice, this was never really a conventional project. Alex Ross Perry, the writer / director behind Listen Up, Philip and Queen of Earth, penned the screenplay for the new Winnie the Pooh movie, which is said to have a style similar to Seth MacFarlane’s Ted — but with a more family-friendly approach. Plot details are unknown, but the story reportedly follows a grown-up Christopher Robin.

Forster has a bit of an odd and underwhelming resumé that also includes Finding Neverland, Stay (the Ryan Gosling one) and Monster’s Ball, along with the occasional solid exception like World War Z and Stranger Than Fiction. He’s competent, sure, but once again I can’t help but think of female filmmakers with similar experience and more consistent track records who are perpetually absent from these blockbuster deals — women like Sarah Polley, Lisa Cholodenko, Nicole Holofcener, Catherine Hardwicke, Debra Granik or Gina Prince-Blythewood.

To date, none of Disney’s live-action remakes / reboots have been directed by a woman (not even Maleficent), and none of the films on their upcoming slate of live-action remakes have women attached to direct — though there are a handful of titles still searching for a director. This isn’t to suggest that the studio never reaches out to women for these projects; if they do, we never hear about it in trade reports.